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Zamora bullish about England chances

LONDON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Injured Fulham striker Bobby Zamora believes his cameo debut appearance against Hungary will keep him in England manager Fabio Capello's Euro 2012 plans even though he will not play again until March.

Published

5 October 2010

The former Tottenham Hotspur forward is recovering from a broken leg and ankle ligament damage picked up in just his fifth appearance this season.

After grabbing 19 goals for Fulham last season, Zamora was widely tipped to make Capello's World Cup squad before an Achilles tendon injury ended his chances of going to South Africa.

England will be around half-way through their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign by the time Zamora is fit but he is confident of getting into the side having made a promising debut as a substitute in the 2-1 friendly win over Hungary.

"I think if I can go out and do well for Fulham then I don't see any reason why not," Zamora, still on crutches, told Reuters on Tuesday.

"I definitely gave Fabio Capello a good picture of me when I was there and with the performance in the game I like to think I did enough to certainly be considered in the future."

England face Montenegro at Wembley on October 12 having won their first two Euro 2012 qualifiers and Capello has shown willingness to give new faces a chance.

Arsenal's talented 18-year-old midfielder Jack Wilshere and the experienced head of Bolton Wanderers target man Kevin Davies have been called into the squad.

"I think it proves that he (Capello) is willing to try," the 29-year-old Zamora said at an event with his sponsor Under Armour.

"He's looking at everybody as opposed to just going to Manchester United games, whoever they are playing, and watching Wayne Rooney. You can see he's going all over the country and that's good to know. It's encouraging for everybody."

Zamora, under former Fulham manager Roy Hodgson, enjoyed arguably the best form of his career last season when his goals fired his team to a 12th place league finish and the Europa League final.

With Hodgson enduring tough times at his new club Liverpool, Zamora is quick to back his former boss.

"There's a lot going on at Liverpool. I think people need to take that into account... I'm confident, I know Roy, I know he can do a tremendous job and it's a case of time," Zamora said.